Maria de Assunção de Oliveira Cristas Machado da Graça (born 28 September 1974) is a Portuguese lawyer, professor and politician. She was the President of the

CDS – People's Party The CDS – People's Party ( pt, CDS – Partido Popular, derived from ''Centro Democrático e Social – Partido Popular'', CDS–PP)

from 2016 to 2020.
Since 2017 she's also opposition leader councilwoman in the

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

City Council, elected with 21% of popular vote. From 2011 to 2015, she served as Minister of Agriculture, Sea, Environment and Territorial Planning in the government led by

Pedro Passos Coelho Pedro Manuel Mamede Passos Coelho (; born 24 July 1964) is a Portuguese politician and university guest lecturer who was the 118th prime minister of Portugal, in office from 2011 to 2015. He was the leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) b ...

Life before politics

She is a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

by training and a professor at the

New University of Lisbon NOVA University Lisbon ( pt, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, ), or just NOVA, is a Portuguese public university whose rectorate is located in Campolide, Lisbon. Founded in 1973, it is the newest of the public universities in the Portuguese capital ...

. She graduated in law in 1997 by the

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; pt, Universidade de Lisboa, ) is a public research university in Lisbon, and the largest university in Portugal. It was founded in 2013, from the merger of two previous public universities located in Lisbon, th ...

, was admitted in the

Portuguese Bar Association The Order of Attorneys of Portugal ( pt, Ordem dos Advogados), also known as the Portuguese Bar Association, is the public association to which all attorneys-at-law belong in Portugal, founded in 1926. Its early origins are found on a private as ...

in 1999 and completed her doctorate in

Private Law Private law is that part of a civil law legal system which is part of the ''jus commune'' that involves relationships between individuals, such as the law of contracts and torts (as it is called in the common law), and the law of obligations ( ...

in 2004.

Political career

Assunção Cristas has been a member of

Democratic and Social Centre - People's Party Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

since 2007. She was first elected to the Assembly of the Republic in

2009 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2009. * Electoral calendar 2009 * 2009 United Nations Security Council election Caribbean * 2009 Antiguan general election * 2009 Aruban general election * 2009 Caymanian constitutional referendu ...

, representing

Leiria Leiria (; cel-x-proto, ɸlāryo) is a city and municipality in the Central Region of Portugal. It is the 2nd largest city in that same region, with a municipality population of 128,640 (as of 2021) in an area of . It is the seat of its own distr ...

. She was re-elected in

2011 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2011. * Local electoral calendar 2011 * National electoral calendar 2011 * 2011 United Nations Security Council election Africa * 2011 Beninese presidential election * 2011 Beninese parliamentary el ...

, participating in the negotiations between her party and the winning

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

to form a coalition government. Cristas led the CDS-PP into the 2019 elections. Her party was defeated, with the CDS-PP losing 13 seats and retaining only 5. She announced her resignation as leader of CDS-PP that evening.

References

Agriculture ministers of Portugal Environment ministers Government ministers of Portugal Living people 1974 births University of Lisbon alumni {{portugal-bio-stub

Life before politics

Political career

See also

References